Another Thirty Years
by Fantasy Cat
Summary: Jin would endure endless time and toil but it was well worth the wait. A Jin/Sun reunion of an unusual but beautiful sort. AUish season/series kinda ending.


**_First Lost fic I've written in years (go me!) I know this is totally not how it's gonna end but it was a nice AU theory to play around with when you think about it. I love bittersweet stories, btw. Ignore my bad grammar or spelling errors. I will fix those when I have spare time._**

**Disclaimer:_ I don't own _Lost_. (Only one season left?! AUGH!)_**

* * *

The revelation of a double-Locke sent everyone camping at the foot statue in a panic.

Then came a familiar roaring sound from inside the statue.

Everyone on the beach, from the Ajira survivors to the Others scrambled off the beach and into the jungle.

Sun didn't know if the smoke monster was pursuing any of them. She tried to look for the other Ajira survivors, Frank and Illana while trying to run from the possibly eating cloud of death herself.

The run tired her eventually and thankfully the jungle went silent. That was a good thing, right? "Hello? Anyone?!" she called out.

No response.

It was still quiet dark so perhaps she wandered too far into the jungle.

With her legs too sore from running, Sun had no choice but to settle down. She tried calling out for Frank but there was no word from him, either. Heck, she even called out for Ben and that was awkward in itself.

She thought perhaps, if she got some rest, waited till morning, she would be able to find her way back to the boat or maybe to the Barracks so she could wring that damn Christian's neck for not informing her about that imposter Locke.

The night would be long…keeping her alert to nearly every little sound. Sun could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. If she didn't find Jin, she would lose everything. A part of her even felt so foolish for leaving her own baby girl to go on a quest she may not likely return from. But at least she didn't have to deal with the things she had seen here.

There was no sleep but her eyes were unfocused and drowsy.

She was even unaware that someone was standing by…watching her, a figure silently drowning in joyful tears.

* * *

The next morning, she was still feeling like a terrible wreck but the day was clear so she began to trek her way through the jungle the best she could. She traveled some miles until she came upon a mass beautiful valley.

And suddenly, she remembered.

This valley…this was the golf course! The one where the survivors used to play.

She was near shocked to find a set of golf clubs and a makeshift flag have been left there on the ground, as if someone was playing it.

But that was impossible, she thought. Everyone who was left behind…they all went back in time didn't they? Richard even said they died.

That was something she still refused to accept. You can't die while in the past, can you?

The golf clubs were a sign of hope for her.

She began running and with every few feet or so, her heart became overjoyed with familiar parts of the island. The caves where the survivors got water. The remains of the hatch.

She stopped when she came upon a familiar set of trees. She knew what would be behind them. It was the garden she built many years ago. Most likely overgrown and over-weeded to the point of unrecognition as she stepped forward.

Walking past the trees, she froze there in both shock and confusion.

The garden had been well maintained. No tall grasses or weeds. In fact, the herbs had grown bigger over the years since she originally planted them. She also saw that the garden itself had gotten bigger and that varied crops of vegetables were added.

Someone had been tending to this garden.

"Sun."

The name struck her like a terrible but beautiful stab to the gut. The voice was coming from behind her but she was both enthralled and scared to see. The turn happened slowly. Her eyes refused to notice who could be there until there was no escaping what seemed like a shocking dream.

An old man, clearly Asian, stood there. His face was wrinkled, his structure skinny and his hair whiting with age.

But his eyes…they were unchanged.

With no ability to event think, Sun went up to touch his face.

She stood there speechless.

"I've waited 33 years for this."

Her mouth dropped open. Yet she was still in disbelief.

The man spoke the same words again. This time in Korean. And now, she understood.

She couldn't scream but she could cry.

…and cry did she ever as she grabbed the man she recognized to be her husband…only older, much older.

Jin, in turn, cried with her.

The reunion was one of a beautiful bittersweetness. Sun was led to believe that Jin had died not once but twice, but here he stood a much older and frail man than he was but this was her husband…the one she lost only 3 years ago.

"How did you know?" Sun asked still crying. "How did you know I would be on the island right now?"

"I had faith," Jin said in perfected English.

That was all that needed to be said about the his experience between the two of them.

* * *

_As soon as the white mushroom cloud appeared over the trees, Sayid would die of his wounds._

_And Miles would return, carrying his crippled father, to tell Jin and Hurley that the explosion failed to destroy the electromagnetic activity but very few lives were able to escape. Sawyer, Juliet, Jack, and Kate, never have a chance_

_That fact that they were still here in 1977 said it all. The plan to take them all back to their own time failed, and now they were the last ones left._

_Now time-traveling fugitives of the Dharma Initiative, the three men had no choice but to disappear into the jungle forever hoping for fate to intervene on their behalf._

_They wondered the jungle for several weeks until they came upon the peaceful establishment of Rose, Bernard & Vincent. At first, the couple was not very keen about being found by the men but still they remained caring and kind and the five of them established a small hidden camp for themselves away from unseen eyes of the island._

_It wouldn't last very long for any of them._

_Miles was the first to go. In a few months, he would be gunned down while on a hike. It was unknown whether it was the Dharma folk or the Hostiles that did him in._

_Some years later, Hurley would succumb to illness and never recover. Bernard and Jin buried him near the future site of the survivor's camp._

_As many years past, Jin found himself learning so much from the other two remaining survivors that remained. He learned how to trek the jungle and scavenge for food and essentials unseen._

_More importantly, he learned from Rose & Bernard, the wonders of living a peaceful life…one that did not fear death nor required weapons to fight off what was out there. What was on this island would always remain part and they all learned to accept what would eventually be._

_It was almost difficult for Jin to keep track of time as many more years passed. Yet before he knew it, Rose and Bernard have lived the end of their life…the life they were meant to have together on this island. It was the most peaceful passing Jin had to admit he had ever known since being on this island. He buried the both of them together near Hurley's grave._

_So now it was just him…and the dog._

_He took to heart the teachings of Rose & Bernard and found hope and peace in his now lonely existence. Knowing full well that there was still on small bit of hope he had left to hold onto._

_He would spend the next years occupying his time by wandering the island, trekking the beach and keeping track of the day and year. As the events of the island he knew were to come slowly developed, Jin had to be careful regarding where he was during a specific event in upcoming history._

_Some areas though, were too risky to travel regardless, such as the barracks and the temple. After his encounters with Rousseau and her team, Jin didn't dare to go near that temple ever again._

_As for Vincent, he kept constantly disappearing from Jin, which only made him angry and frustrated. Eventually after a few years, he gave up. Perhaps Vincent had disappeared for good and Jin was forced to continue surviving on his own._

* * *

_He was fishing alone along the beach that would soon belong to his fellow 815 companions when he heard footsteps. He whirled around, wishing he still had his gun._

_A familiar looking man stood there. Jin had seen this man before but it took a while for his memory to remember. This was the strange Caucasian man who came to his wedding years ago._

_The man greeted him…in perfect Korean, like he did before._

_"Who are you? I mean, how are you here?"_

_"This is my home," said the man. "As much as it is yours."_

_"Is this a dream?" asked Jin._

_"No…but do not lose heart, Jin. There's no greater love than that of patience. Are you willing to wait so long for any chance of being with your wife again?"_

_Now Jin was convinced that he was dreaming but he smiled and played along with the man's game._

_"I waited 30 years to meet Sun for the first time. If it takes another 30 years to see her again…I will wait."_

_The man smiled and said "wonderful, Jin."_

_He began to walk away and Jin was unsure whether or not to follow him but the man turned back and said "when it happens, there is a stone foot on the other side of the island. If you are in there when the time comes, you will not be affected by the island's passage and you can continue to wait for her."_

_Jin must've blinked without realizing it because one minute the man was there, the next he was gone._

_And Jin was once again alone._

* * *

_Few people would ever get to say they saw the plane crash they survived in from the outside. But Jin himself would see it. In fact, he had been traveling near the cove when he heard an unusual fight going on. Flashback Desmond had just killed a man on the rocks. Then, he realized what was about to happen. He fled into the jungle and saw his own plane fall apart in mid-air. The sound of the crash was ungodly reckoning, one he would still remember to this day._

_He knew what a terrible risk it was…to not only encounter the familiar faces that would make the beach their own, but to see his past self…the worst of his past self._

_But to be able to see Sun again, even if this was the past, that was an apple of temptation that Jin wanted to bite more than anything._

_He regretted giving into that temptation as he observed from the jungle his wife with…himself. The man who didn't know a word of English and was overpowering and demeaning towards his wife. He knew he never meant to be so harsh to her then._

_But now it had been too much when it got to the point of him observing the fight between his past self and Michael on the beach._

_That would be the last time he would look back on his flight 815 companions then. He fled into the jungle with remorseful tears in his eyes unable to look back on any of those memory be they fond or bad._

_For the next few months he found a small cave up in the hills that he knew none of the survivors had been to during their time here (and hopefully the Others hadn't either). He could however see little signs of the events that he and the survivors made great impact on. He saw the eerily beautiful explosion of the hatch, which nearly blinded him. He saw attempted bombing of the Others he took part in from his cave as well the arrival of the helicopter on the island for the first time._

_Jin finally understood what the event was that he needed to hide from and he began his solo trek to the stone foot. Much to his good fortune, Vincent reappeared by his side as if he knew this was coming as well. (Though for all Jin knew, this could've been the past Vincent and not the present time-traveling one, not that any of that really mattered anymore). Jin prepared a supply of fish and water and the man and the dog when into the foot. Flashes of light seeped through the cracks and Jin and Vincent felt nothing. They were perfectly unaffected. This lasted a few days and then…it was finally over._

_The island at its present, was empty…quiet._

_Jin was now experiencing the passage of time properly as he should, although a bit older than he should've been for the present._

* * *

Now today, in 2007, Jin and Sun walked hand in hand to the abandoned camp. Jin had apparently remained here the last few years when everyone had vanished holding on the memories of his friends, tending to the garden, belonging to his wife, improving both his golfing skills and his English reading the books Sawyer left behind.

The couple sat at the tent that was once theirs and Sun pulled out the pictures she hoped the show Jin the moment she would find him again…the pictures of his baby daughter, from her birth to her current age. It made Jin cry again.

It was late afternoon now and the sky was changing colors.

"Should we…" Jin asked. "Should we…get back to the others?" By others he meant the camp of the Ajira survivors'. Soon they would anyway. Frank was probably worried about where Sun ran off to after all.

But instead, she shook her head. "It's alright. I want to stay here…just a little longer."

So they did, just to share one last sunset at the beach that they would have to leave behind. Just one sunset that neither of them thought they would ever share again. Jin's aging form did not seem to affect either of them, as Sun presence made him feel like the young newlywed he had always felt within.

After all, he waited 33 years for this…for her, he would always wait.

And while she only had to wait only three years, Jin knew that she would've waited another thirty...just for him.

* * *

**_The End. Reviews are welcomed. :)_**


End file.
